How many of you out there have had to cancel your flight tickets? If you are above 40 and travelled the world, then it is highly likely that at some stage of your life you must have done that. Recall how you felt when you called up inbound call center outsourcing support and were told that it is not possible. Then you logged onto the laptop, wrote a mail and somehow magically, got the money refunded.

How did you feel when one channel failed you and the other succeeded? More importantly, did you have a good experience? Don’t think so. Given an option of another similar airline, would you like to choose the same airline again? Highly Unlikely! Ever wondered why there was such a discrepancy in the service provided?

The Reason for Discrepancy

The answer lies in the lack of coordination and shared information between the two departments, which were working independently. To handle such discrepancies, nowadays, outsourcing back office support and voice support are done with emphasis on Omni channel customer service. This new approach reduces silos between departments and ensures right information is disseminated to the customers, regardless of the channel they use.

How Omni Channel Approach Works?

Omni Channel approach takes into consideration that your customer may call you, email you, start a chat support session or use your social media platform to contact you. Omni channel approach anticipates that the customer may use all the above mentioned channels for continuing the same conversation. To explain better, below is an example:

Suppose a customer calls you regarding cancellation of a flight ticket. He tells you that he cannot take the flight as there has been a medical emergency and he is in a hospital. You ask him to send a proof for the same. Now, customer’s condition worsens and he finds it hard to converse. In this scenario, he sends you an email with a screenshot of the medical documents. As you are using an Omni channel for communication, you instantly recognize the customer. You verify his claims, but still need some other pieces of information. Now, instead of email, he uses chat support and provides you all that information conveniently. You process the refund. Case Closed.

This was all made possible due to a centralized cloud-based server that was accessed by customer service agents to communicate with the customer. At no time, the agents had to pester him for the previous conversations, which would have been incredibly inconvenient given the state he was in.

The Main Advantage of Omni Channel Support

One of the biggest advantages of Omni Channel support is the consistency of information delivered. According to a survey, it was found that companies that communicate with their customer using different channels and provide consistent information are able to retain 89% of their customers. The ones who do not provide consistent information only retain 33% customers. Such a gap in these two numbers clearly makes Omni channel a great tool for the future of customer service.

How to Improve Omni Channel Support?

If you have already merged your inbound voice support with other text-based support systems, then you are on the right track. However, you still need to enhance other facets of your customer-facing services to make the Omni channel experience truly exceptional:

Provide better mobile website access – As more and more users are switching to their mobile phones for accessing online content, it is imperative that you enhance the website quality. You do not want customers to be stuck on a loading webpages forever. Optimize website quality and also add new mobile-friendly features.

Offer self-service option – Apart from customer service, you should also provide self-service channels to the customers so they can take care of the issues by themselves. Some tech-savvy customers really like this feature.

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About the Author

Amelia Robert is a customer service manager associated with Vcall Global. The organization she works for offers variety of services including call center solutions, telecom billing solutions, software development services and IVR services. Her association with the contact center industry began five years back when she started working as an agent with a customer service company. Her writings bring out the insight that she has been able to develop because of her experience and understanding.

ABOUT COMPANY

Vcall Global is a global call center outsourcing enterprise that offers innovative service solutions to its business affiliates in various segments of the industry. Though the nerve center of our operations lies in the United States, we operate through our business units in different parts of the world.